


The Blind Pig

by rosy_cheeks



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Cooking, M/M, Street food
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-09-26 21:28:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20396419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosy_cheeks/pseuds/rosy_cheeks
Summary: Mark Lee's only dream is to open a food stall. His parents think it's foolish. Mark's lack of support and heavy load of schoolwork have been driving him insane, but Donghyuk refuses to let it get in the way of Mark's dream.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So it's been a while since I've written anything. Oops. Anyway, I got really inspired by the Street Food documentary on Netflix so I decided to write something based off it. I know I haven't been super dedicated to my other works, but I'll try my best for this one.

Every Saturday night, The Bling Pig was a combination of two of Mark’s favorite things: the overwhelming scent of spices and the joyous sound of people enjoying a good meal. Saturday nights made Mark feel good about himself, about what he cooked. He could hear the customers’ conversations from his station, after all, the kitchen was visible from behind the counter. He could hear the praises for the way he cooked. It’s what kept him going. 

The clock on the top of the wall read 9:45. The tables were empty and most of Mark’s coworkers had left at this point. He was wiping down the counters, making sure there wasn’t a single flaw in his station. He couldn’t work without it being completely clean for the next day. 

“Mark?” 

He turned to face the voice who’d called him: his boss, Taeyong. Mark was rather fond of Taeyong. He helped him when he was struggling, praised his successes, and listened when he was down. Taeyong was kind. Genuine. Mark didn’t find people like that often. 

“You’re still here?” Taeyong asked, worry etched into his brow. 

Mark gave a light chuckle, “You know me.” 

Taeyong tapped his shoulder, “Go back to the dorms, Mark. You’ve got to keep up with your studies. Work isn’t all there is to life.”

“I’d much rather be here than studying,” Mark said.

“Well, I’m letting you off fifteen minutes early tonight. I’ll finish cleaning up,” Taeyong took the rag out of Mark’s hand and pushed him toward the locker room.

Mark sighed and entered the locker room while unbuttoning his shirt. He changed as slowly as he could in an attempt to delay having to leave. As he was pulling his sweater over his head, he heard the sound of someone knocking on the glass doors. 

Curious, Mark grabbed his bag and closed his locker before heading toward the front of the restaurant. Taeyong had beat him there, peeking his head out of the kitchen to observe the boy rapping his knuckles against the doors. 

Mark rolled his eyes.

“Do you know him?” Taeyong asked. 

Of course Mark knew him. That wavy brown hair, sunkissed skin, and annoying smile had been burned into his memory since childhood. He and Donghyuk had been inseparable since birth. They were the dictionary definition of best friends. Donghyuk was Mark’s second half, but he’d never admit it, at least not to Donghyuk. 

“Yeah,” Mark grumbled, “I know him.”

Donghyuk couldn’t be more embarrassing.

“Have a good night, Mark,” Taeyong smiled. 

Mark waved a simple goodbye and walked to the front doors, swinging his bag over his shoulder. Donghyuk grinned at him from the other side, motioning for him to hurry up. Mark shook his head, but unlocked the door and stepped outside. 

The winter air bit into his skin. Mark kept underestimating the low temperatures of Korean winters. Lucky for him, Donghyuk wrapped his arm around Mark’s shoulders and pulled them close together, allowing a wave of warmth to grace his body. Mark tried to repress a smile. 

“Did you eat yet today?” Donghyuk asked him, tugging at the hair at the base of Mark’s neck. 

Mark pushed him away and then shoved him again for good measure. Donghyuk whined. 

“No. Not yet,” Mark finally answered. 

Donghyuk stopped walking. 

“What?” Mark asked, turning to face him. 

“You work in a restaurant,” Donghyuk said. 

“And?”

“And you don’t eat anything while you’re there?”

“Well-”

“Then we can just go to Gwangjang Market and get food together every night,” Donghyuk skipped forward, heading back down the street. 

Mark smiled again and jogged to catch up with him, “We’ll be broke if we eat out every night. I’m trying to save up-”

“For your stall, yeah, yeah. I know,” Donghyuk rolled his eyes, “It’s been forever since we’ve gone out. You can spare a few dollars for tonight.”

“Fine,” Mark said. 

“I knew you couldn’t resist me.” 

Mark laughed and let Donghyuk lead him to Gwangjang Market. They huddled close together, relishing in each others’ warmth the entire way there. 

Even at this time of night, Gwangjang Market was packed. Vendors were shouting for people to try their kimbap and tteok-bokki and jajangmyeon. The smell of all three combined warmed Mark’s heart, giving him a shield from the cold air. 

“Do you want anything in particular?” Donghyuk asked him after noticing the pure happiness on Mark’s face. 

He looked around for a bit, pondering each of his options until his eyes met a sign reading “Song’s Chicken.” Mark smiled and pointed at the stall. 

“That’s what I want.”

Donghyuk shook his head and placed his hands on his hips, “I knew it.” 

Song Jangmi was the middle aged woman in charge of the stall. In Mark’s opinion, her chicken was unmatched. She also gave exceptional cooking and life advice so, naturally, Mark took a liking to her. 

The two friends ran up to the stall and took their seats at the front counter. Mark plopped his bag down on the floor next to him and raised his hand. 

“I’ll take two orders of fried chicken!” 

Jangmi turned around from her spot by the stove and gave Mark a wide grin, “Mark! I thought you’d never come back!” 

She jotted down the order and handed it off to one of her workers, then settled in front of the two boys. 

“I dragged him out here for you,” Donghyuk said, earning him another shove. 

“You did not,” Mark muttered. 

“I’m glad,” Jangmi said, taking two plates of fried chicken from one of the workers and placing them in front of the boys, “It’s nice to see you two again. Has school started back up again?”

Winter break ended two week ago and, in Mark’s opinion, school was as awful as it had always been. The two of them were sophomores now and while Donghyuk seemed to be living it up, Mark was simply miserable. 

“Yeah. It’s great!” Donghyuk answered quickly, “We finally get to focus more on our majors instead of taking stupid math classes.” 

“That’s good,” Jangmi said as Mark handed her the money for their order, “Make sure you come by more often.”

And with that she went back cooking. It was a busy night- every Saturday night is- and the line at the stall was growing longer and longer. 

“See,” Donghyuk started, “Even Jangmi thinks we should eat out more often.”

“Whatever,” Mark groaned. 

Donghyuk took a big bite of his chicken, “So, how are your studies going?”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Mark slapped him on the back and he coughed a bit, “It’s… not great.” 

“So you hate pre-med as much as you thought you would?” Donghyuk furrowed his brow. 

“Yeah,” Mark sighed, “but I’m trying to take business classes on the side. I guess things could be worse.”

“By the sound of it, Mark, I don’t think you could get more miserable.” 

Mark scoffed. His parents weren’t supportive of his dream to own a food stall. They thought it was a childish goal and that it wouldn’t take him far. So instead, they forced him to study something they deemed to their standards. Donghyuk was one of the only people who didn’t immediately laugh at his dream. 

“I’m fine,” he said, “I just have to finish college and then I can do whatever I want.” 

Donghyuk finished the last bit of his chicken and pushed the plate away from him, “I’ll make sure to be your first customer.”

Mark laughed and picked up his bag, “Whatever, dude. Are you ready to go?”

Donghyuk yawned, “Yeah. Let’s go.”

The two of them weren’t roommates. They came to the decision out of fear that living together would ruin their friendship and so that they could have the experience of being around someone other than each other for most of the day. Johnny, Mark’s roommate, was already in the room when he got back. Johnny’s best friend, Chittaphon, was lying across the edge of Johnny’s bed, staring up at his phone. 

“Hey, Mark,” Chittaphon said, “you’re back late.” 

“Yeah, Donghyuk and I went to go get food after work.”

“Don’t you work at a restaurant?” Johnny questioned, propping himself up on his elbow, “Why don’t you eat there?”

“Whatever,” Mark said, setting his bag down and jumping onto his bed, “I’m going to sleep.” 

Johnny shrugged and laid back down, “Goodnight, Mark.” 

“Goodnight.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm kind of enjoying this. We'll see where this goes.

Chittaphon was still there when Mark woke up, but now Donghyuk had graced the room with his presence. The sound of his high pitched laughter rang through the room and bounced off Mark’s eardrums, making him cover his ears in dismay. 

“Oh, Mark’s finally awake!” Donghyuk cheered, running over to his bed and jumping on top of him. 

Mark cried out as Donghyuk’s weight crushed him further into his mattress, “Johnny! Help me!”

He could hear both Johnny and Chittaphon laugh at him from across the room, neither bothering to get up and help Mark as Donghyuk started to roll around on top of him. Donghyuk shoved his fingers into Mark’s side and he let out another shout, this time shoving Donghyuk away and pouncing on top of him. Mark immediately tickled him back, relishing in the sounds of Donghyuk’s giggles. 

Across the room, Mark saw Chittaphon give Johnny a look, a look that was returned, and he stopped attacking his best friend. He coughed awkwardly and got out of bed to get dressed. 

“Why are you here so early in the morning?” he asked Donghyuk, opening the dresser doors. 

“Mark, it’s 11am,” Donghyuk laughed. 

Mark looked over at the alarm clock on his desk. It was almost noon. 

“Oh,” he said. 

“I thought we could go to the library together. I know you haven’t done any of your homework yet.” 

“Yeah, okay,” Mark said. 

“You sure are chatty,” Donghyuk sighed and slipped off of Mark’s bed as he was slipping his jacket on. 

“You woke me up.”

Donghyuk rolled his eyes, “Whatever, Sleeping Beauty.” 

He handed Mark his backpack and tugged him out the door, “Bye, guys!” 

Mark watched Donghyuk give Johnny and Chittaphon and cute smile and a wave before closing the door behind them. 

“How long were you in my room?” Mark asked while they walked. 

“Not that long,” Donghyuk said, “But don’t worry too much. I enjoy being around Johnny and Chittaphon way more than I like being around you.” 

“Wow. I’m hurt.” 

Donghyuk giggled and slapped his shoulder, “Should we go get coffee first?”

“Sure.”

Mark lost the round of rock, paper, scissors that determined who would pay, so he reluctantly handed over their payment while Donghyuk mocked him with a victorious dance. The barista made a visible effort to hold in her laughter when Mark slapped him on the arm, extra hard, and told him to stop being so embarrassing. 

“I can’t believe you’ve never won a single round of rock, paper, scissors,” Donghyuk said dramatically, twirling his finger around the rim of his mug. 

Mark groaned and took a sip of his coffee, choosing to ignore him and instead make a mental list of the things he needed to get done today. He had two sets of textbook readings, a book for his literature class to finish, and after making a note of those two things he gave up, focusing instead of Donghyuk’s animated chatter. 

“How much did you procrastinate this week?” Donghyuk asked him. 

“Not as much as last week,” Mark sighed. 

“I’m impressed,” Donghyuk hummed. 

“I want to try my best to get a lot of work done before the club fair for this semester.”

“Why’s that? It’s just a fair,” Donghyuk finished off his coffee. 

“Well, the cooking club needs to prepare a lot of food and get a lot of shopping done, so I need to set aside some time to find recipes and go to the market.”

“Why are you even in that club if you cook every night for work?”

Mark ran his hands through his hair, “It’s not like I get to study it in school, so I might as well do as much as I can before I graduate.” 

Donghyuk hummed in understanding, “Just tell me when you plan to shop. I have absolutely nothing to do and I’m bored.” 

“You’ll have to see how willing I am to put up with your annoying ass that day.” 

Donghyuk whined and crossed his arms over his chest, making a show of his miniature tantrum, “Please?” 

“I just told you, we’ll see.”

“I’ll bother you more if you don’t let me come.”

Mark rolled his eyes, “Fine.” 

Donghyuk pumped his fist in the air in silent victory and went to put his mug away. Mark watched as he set it down carefully and came back with a smile still on his face. 

“Why are you staring at me? Hurry up and finish your coffee. We don’t have all day!”

Mark quickly raised the mug to his lips and tried to finish his coffee as fast as humanly possible, but not without choking on the hot drink. He went into a coughing fit as Donghyuk stood and laughed at him, patting his harshly on the back a few times. 

During the day, the winter air seemed just as cold as it was at night. Donghyuk huddling close to Mark on their walk to the library further proved that. He shivered dramatically and watched as his breath made a cloud in the air. 

“Why didn’t we go to school somewhere warmer?” Donghyuk whined. 

“You were determined to go here, that’s why,” Mark huffed. 

“Aw, and you decided to follow me because you couldn’t stand us being apart?” Donghyuk made kissy faces at him. 

Mark moaned in misery, unable to escape when Donghyuk wrapped his arms around him. Donghyuk giggled and loosened his grip on his best friend. They spent the rest of their walk in comfortable silence, huddled together with slight smiles on their faces. 

The library was bustling with the sound of clicking keyboards, shuffling papers, and stressed sighs. Mark didn’t mind it. It felt comfortable. It felt like home. Though part of that must have been because Donghyuk was beside him to ward off the winter air. 

“Let’s get a table in the back. I want to be able to talk while we study,” Donghyuk said, leading him to their destination. 

“We’re not going to get any work done,” Mark mumbled. 

They set their bag by the table of their choosing and pulled out a bundle of laptops, notebooks, textbooks, and highlighters. Mark pulled up a reading he had to do for his psychology class and nearly slammed him head on the desk after only reading the first sentence. Donghyuk gave Mark’s shoulder a rub. 

“When does your shift start?” he asked. 

“Five,” Mark pulled at his hair. 

“It’s just four hours. And if you get your work done fast, I’ll take you to another food stall tonight,” Donghyuk promised. 

Mark locked eyes with him. He assumed that was all Donghyuk needed to know that he was in. Mark set to work with only the thought of Jangmi’s japchae on his mind.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Thanks for dragging me out of bed this morning,” Mark said as he stared up at the light of open sign of The Bling Pig. 

“I do it every weekend, Mark,” Donghyuk adjusted the straps of his backpack, “When does your shift end tonight?” 

“Ten. You’re not going to bang on the doors again are you?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Donghyuk smirked.

“I’ll just meet you outside.”

“Wow,” Donghyuk pretended to be hurt, “You’re that embarrassed of me?”

“Yes,” Mark rolled his eyes and didn’t bother to look back as he went through the doors. 

Work always lifted Mark’s spirits. His co-worker, Lucas, would always make him laugh and Taeyong would always look over their shoulders to make sure they were okay. The Blind Pig was what he considered his true family. They were people who made him feel safe. They made him feel like he belonged. 

Jaemin talked to him for the whole shift about some classmate of his he found hot. The two of them went to the same school, but never saw each other outside of work. His went on and on about the glow of their skin and the beauty of their smile. Mark told him he was whipped. 

Lucas whined about not knowing what he wanted to do with his life. He kept taking elective classes but none of them struck a chord with him. Mark told him he should just be a professional partier. Lucas slapped him and said he was taking it easy on the parties lately. 

Taeyong carefully tiptoed around the kitchen, watching as everyone worked, clearly stressed about everyone being where they needed to be. Mark tried to tell him to calm down, but left it to Jaehyun, the second in charge, to calm him down. 

When closing time came and Donghyuk, thankfully, didn’t knock on the glass doors, Mark left with a smile. They ate at a food stall that wasn’t Jangmi’s and went back to Mark’s room to crash on his bed in their day clothes, murmuring quick good nights to Johnny. 

For the rest of the week Donghyuk pulled Mark out of his room in the morning and dragged him around to different cafes and food stalls and to the library and then back home. They had a pattern. A routine. And Mark thrived off of it. He’d never been happier. 

They were sitting at a Vietnamese food stall when he got the call. 

“Are you going to pick up?” Donghyuk asked him, slurping down a spoonful of broth. 

Mark looked blankly at the caller ID. 

“Mark?” 

“It’s my parents.”

Donghyuk set the spoon down, “Shouldn’t you pick up?”

“I don’t want to.”

“Then don’t. It’s late. You can call them back later and explain.”

Mark nodded and set his phone down, anxiety bubbling in the depths of his chest. 

“They can’t want something too bad, right?” Donghyuk nudged Mark’s elbow, “You’ve been going to all your classes.”

Mark tried to laugh it off, “Yeah. They’re probably just checking in.”

“Hey,” Donghyuk put his hand over Mark’s, “You’ll be okay. Your parents can’t keep watching over you like a hawk forever.”

“I think you’re underestimating them.”

“Too bad. I’ll just smuggle you back to Canada where your parents can’t find you.” 

Mark laughed. 

“Now you better finish your food because I paid for that.”

Mark pulled his hand out of Donghyuk’s hold and put his attention back on his phở. He didn’t know what he’d do without his best friend. He’d probably be cooped up in his dorm room, annoying Johnny and Chittaphon. 

“Thanks, Donghyuk,” he said, avoiding eye contact.

“For what?” Donghyuk said with his mouth full. 

“Uh, you know,” Mark awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, “Just- thanks for being here.”

“What do you mean, Mark,” Donghyuk giggled. 

“Well, you- you’re always here. When I need you.”

Donghyuk’s face was painted over with a blush and he looked down at his food. 

Mark pointed at him, “For once you’re the embarassed one!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Donghyuk mumbled, pulling at his ear, “Just finish eating.”

So they did. And Mark thanked him again. This time for the food.


End file.
